E; Try the search option with the word "Krown" and you will find a more than vigorous debate. However, nothin good on Starchoice tonight so here is my spiel. Besides, I hate to see people get ripped off regarding this issue.
Krown was born out of Rust Check. Rust Check dealers, after years of watching the ownership group commit fraud with the product and the warranty claims, and a very long legal battle, removed themselves from non competition agreements and formed "Krown" as a co-operative.
Now having said that, not all Krown dealers are created equal, but their spray is better than Rust Check.
1. Forget about the warranty. Forget what the dealers are telling you as they are trying to frighten you or "extort" you into forking over some good cash for ZIP. Your new car is not going to rust for about ten years whether you apply nothing or use RustCheck or Krown. What you might want to do is get the vehicle sprayed every other year. Or get the interior panels done very other year and the underneath sprayed every year or vise-versa. It all depends on your winter road situation. Personally, in Owen Sound where I live, one drives mostly through a solution of brine, not snow! Your brake lines, fuel lines, electrical transmission connectors all benefit greatly for Krown type moisture displacement applications. The dealer stuff just attempts to coat everything with the sticky paste stuff, but sections, however small, are always missed and can actually trap moisture against the very things that you are trying to protect.
I have very first hand knowledge with the dealer applied stuff at leading non domestic dealerships. The stuff is unlike Krown or Rustcheck as it is a thicker paste like substance that "coats" but does not penetrate seams. The stuff is useless. If you have a warranty claim the dealer brings in the "mobile paint guy", he bondos the hole up and blows in the paint. No where in these warranties does it state that new OEM body panels will be welded into place.
The thing about body rust, as in the case of rear wheel arches of Japanese cars and trunk lids, etc, is that it takes 10 years for rust to form in an untreated car anyways. But when it does, the car is next to worthless. So it's a hard call to state if it is a wise economic decision for some, depending on how long they keep vehicles. I have some lifetime keepers, or so I like to believe, so I get them done every other year. The winter units I have the bottoms sprayed every year in the spring before I park them.
The dealers sell their "lifetime" once only applications because the profit is fantastic. At the dealerships that I have first hand knowledge of, the salesman gets a commission as does the business manger whose job it is to close the sale on all the extras like paint protection and fabric protection and extended warranties. These guys make a good part of their incomes selling this stuff as it is all commission.
Here is how the stuff is sold at dealerships. The salesman will tell the customer that after the purchase he will meet the business manger who will go through all the ownership and money issues and who will also "inform" the customer of all other "options and services".
The salesman then pulls out a voucher, personally writes the cutomers name down on same and hands it to the new buyer. The voucher is for $100 only on the complete package (rustproofing, paint protector, fabric protector). The customer then goes to see the business manager who, while attempting to keep a straight face, feigns that he is somewhat perplexed that the customer has received this personal voucher from the saleman, but for the sake of good business practices, he will honour it just the same if the customer desires the full package. Bingo, customer is snared and the saleman gets $100 added to his bonus and the buiness manager pockets $200 and the dealer makes in the neighbourhood of $600 clear. It takes the kid 1 hour and 25 minutes to wax the car, 1/2 hour to spray the gook underneath and 5 minutes holding his breath to spray fabric guard out of a spray bottle. So 20 bucks to the kid. Besides the customer, the kid gets a raw deal.
As for the actual "for life" rustproofing, the product comes in a 50 gallon barrel which is pumped out and applied by a kid that is paid usually about 10 bucks per hour. Nobody sees what he does. It can be and often is sprayed over an already wet and partially dirty undercarriage! Who knows, who cares. As for the doors and interior parts nothing gets done except for the visable parts so the customer thinks he is getting something for his money. Usually the drain holes get a quick shot as do all hinges which is useless of course. Time alotted for spraying is usually one half hour otherwise the kid gets yelled at for taking too much time and/or using too much product.
Bottom line is that there is no benefit to dealer applied paste type rustproofing. Krown and Rust Check benefits from interior panel applications don't really come into play until way down the road, but that is the time they are worth their weight in gold. Krown and Rust Check sprays are great on the mechanicals under the car from day one.
